


The First Official Meeting of the Purgatory Gay-Straight Alliance

by CoffeeCouture



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nicole/Wynonna BROTP, mostly canon, set mid season 2 - no pregnancy yet, squad goals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-01 03:24:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13989438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoffeeCouture/pseuds/CoffeeCouture
Summary: Despite being of Earp renown, Waverly always fit in well in Purgatory. She had friends and a boyfriend and a job where everyone loved her. Now she's the happiest she's ever been, but can't help but notice the way that the town is turning. Wynonna doesn't really understand at first, but decides to take matters into her own hands.orA silly fic about the squad making a Gay-Straight Alliance that I couldn't get out of my head.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is part 1 of a 3 part fic. It's slightly canon divergent - set after 2x05, so Mitcian has been dealt with but no one knows that Wynonna is pregnant yet.
> 
> TW: Homophobia; Champ being a douche.
> 
> I do not own Wynonna Earp or any of its characters, this is a fan work.

*********

Tuesday was easily Waverly Earp’s favourite day of the week and she knew that this was an unpopular opinion. Most people, when asked, would probably say that they best loved Fridays or Saturdays; for obvious reasons. Wednesdays and Thursdays are also a common choice because they signal that the week is in its twilight and the weekend is just on the horizon. Most feel that Sundays are a bummer because every minute spent snuggled in a dressing gown is a minute closer to the dreaded Work Week. There are probably a small handful of plucky upstarts who enjoy putting their best foot forward on a Monday morning. On the face of it though, there is little to recommend a Tuesday.

Waverly, however, had had a lot of good experiences recently that happened to fall on the second day of the week. In the past she definitely wasn’t one to believe in superstitions, but given the turn her life had taken recently, all her pre-conceived beliefs had gone out the window. Frankly she couldn’t deny the fact that the evidence was just stacking up that Tuesdays were the best days. After all, it was a Tuesday when her sister Wynonna had first returned to Purgatory, an event which could be said to be both a blessing and a curse in the most literal sense. It was a Tuesday morning when her future girlfriend, Nicole Haught, had first wandered into her life and a Tuesday afternoon when Waverly had summoned the courage to flip the blinds in Nedley’s office and kiss the life out of her. It was also a Tuesday when Waverly had touched an unknown goo-like substance and been possessed by a demonic spirit, so definitely a sort of 4:1 good/bad event ratio overall. She recognised that it was an imperfect belief system but with these coincidences in mind Waverly couldn’t help but move with an extra spring in her step on Tuesday mornings.

The most recent addition to her Tuesday routine was that she and Dolls had started doing a coffee run. They had spent a few days staking out a shady individual who had started frequenting Shorty’s. They would spend up to an hour sat in the car park talking and listening to music while peeping through their binoculars like low-budget spies. It was awkward at first, but it turned out that they had similar taste in music and Waverly enjoyed putting together playlists to see if she could illicit the small smile and the monotone “these guys are pretty good” that indicated Dolls’ highest level of approval. In the end they discovered that their man wasn’t a revenant at all when instead of heading back into town they tailed him for miles until he sailed straight over the boundary of the Ghost River Triangle. According to Nedley his behaviour indicated he was probably just a regular old drug dealer, and Waverly was alarmed to find that her life was so upside down these days that she considered this to be a very boring turn of events. Despite their failed mission she and Dolls had kept up their coffee and music tradition one day a week. 

Usually she bought their coffees while he waited in the car, but on this fateful Tuesday he had offered to switch it up. Waverly was fiddling with her iPod to prepare this week’s playlist, ‘80s Bops to Knock off Dolls’ Socks’, when someone tapped on the window. She spun around, her left hand immediately feeling for the catch that would release the knife that was hidden under the dash. She was surprised to see Champ grinning down at her, his nose crushed unattractively against the glass.

“Waverly!” he said, gesturing for her to roll down the window.

As the partition slid down he edged straight into the cabin for a hug. Waverly was hesitant at first, she hadn’t spoken to Champ since the Poker Ball. But as she leaned into his warm embrace she was surprised by how pleasant it felt to feel the familiar tickle of his stubble and smell his cologne.

“Champ! Wow I haven’t seen you in so long! Not since-”

He grunted and rubbed his chin. “Not since I was off my ass drunk at the Poker Ball. I’m sorry. I honestly don’t remember much about that night but I hear that I had a bit too much of the old bubbly and became, eh… hard to deal with.”

Before she could reply her phone pinged in her lap.

**Sorry, i forgot - do u take sugar?**

It was always a novelty getting a text from Dolls, no matter how benign the subject matter. He was clearly more comfortable communicating via a formal phone call, or a well-formatted email.

Champ peered at the message. “Tell him you don’t need it, you’re already sweet enough.” He used to tell that dumb joke all the time and deliver it with all the enthusiasm of a 4 year old telling his first joke. Usually she’d roll her eyes, but it had been so long since she’d heard it that she was caught off guard and couldn’t help but snort a laugh. He was wearing a dim flannel shirt that had clearly been washed too many times and started to fray at the cuffs. This one was a particular favourite of his, and of hers truth be told, because it was soft and warm and she often stole it from him to wear around the flat on lazy Sunday mornings. 

She smiled genuinely. “How’ve you been, Champ?”

He shrugged. “Not too bad. I’m working at a small cattle ranch on the edge of town right now but I heard that someone bought out Shorty’s so I figured I’d come see what they’ve done with the place. It was weird not seeing you behind the taps.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint but I think my time as a barmaid has come to its natural conclusion.”

“That’s a shame; you were always everyone’s favourite. People knew that if you went to put a few away at Shorty’s it was gunna be a treat if Waverly Earp was on shift. One smile from you could bring the worst day back from the brink.”

“Well,” Waverly gave her most theatrical grin and pose. “I’ve always said, it’s all in the-”

“The smile and wave! I know, I remember.” He bared his teeth in a grimace and gave a big, exaggerated wave to the empty car park until they were both laughing.

They looked at each other and lapsed into silence. A little black and white bird landed on the car’s bonnet, its head darting around. Its long tail bobbed gently up and down like a tiny metronome. They watched it for a minute until he spoke again. “So, what are you up to these days?”

“I, uh...” Waverly hesitated. Since signing on to Black Badge she’d been much more cautious about revealing the details of her profession. It was against her nature to be dishonest but now she often found herself spooling out lies and hoping they wouldn’t get tangled. Signing a contract in blood will do that to you. “I’m in business with Wynonna.”

“That’s strange,” said Champ. “Chrissy mentioned that you work from Nedley’s office.” 

“That’s funny, I didn’t know you were friends with Chrissy,” said Waverly, trying to steer the conversation away from Black Badge. “Are you guys hanging out now?”

He ignored her question. He was still smiling but a familiar edge had crept into his words. “In fact, I’ve heard rumours that you’re a fully-fledged cop now. How’d you swing that when you never even took the exam? Although I guess you helped me prepare for it that many times you’ve got the text book memorised, right?”

He draped one of his muscular forearms on the open window and Waverly resisted the urge to push the button and let the glass slowly push it off. She replied in her perkiest voice. “Well, I’m not a cop as-such. Can you imagine? Nedley wouldn’t be able to stand me, probably! We’re more like Special Forces.”

“Special Forces huh? Sounds important.”

“Oh, well, not really. ‘Special Forces’ sounds more dramatic than it is. We just assist with the work of Purgatory PD. I mostly do research and admin and I uh-” She thought about some of their most recent exploits, which included getting covered in goo from giant spider eggs and fighting demonic possession from malicious ancient spirits. “I offer general project support.”

Champ nodded. “Yeah you always were a brain box; they were smart to get you on board. I’m sure that knowing a certain high-ranking member of the force didn’t hurt your chances either.”

Waverly felt herself tense immediately. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing! Just that I’m sure the Deputy Sheriff enjoys having you around for project support.” 

A wave of embarrassment passed through her and underneath it – like an ember in a fireplace –anger. She thought back to that night when he’d been drunk and what she’d accused him of.

“This is just a continuation of what you said at the Poker Ball, isn’t it?” she said.

Champ immediately shook threw his hands up in contrition and the sudden movement sent the little bird on the bonnet skittering away. “I told you I don’t remember anything about the Poker Ball, remember? Alls I’m saying is that I imagine your good friend the Deputy Sheriff is very glad to have you around the place, that’s all!”

“Nicole isn’t my friend any more than you and I were ‘just friends’,” she said, coldly. “Now if you’ll excuse me Champ, I need to finish this before-” 

Champ leaned into the window more and she moved back as far as her seatbelt would allow. The brim of his hat was tilted low, casting most of his face in shade. Now he was closer she realised that she could smell alcohol on his breath. “I always knew you were too good for me, Waves, you know that? That’s what I figured our problem was. Because we had a lot of problems, didn’t we? The way you always had an excuse not to move in with me when we’d been together so long. The way you got too busy to go on dates with me, even when I got time off work.”

She felt her cheeks heating up. “Champ I-”

“I never knew what to do to make it right, but now I know there was nothing I could have done because you’re-” he waved his hand vaguely “you know.”

She replied as levelly as she could. “It wasn’t like that, Champ. I didn’t know.”

He made a dismissive noise. “Guess I should have listened to what people were telling me. The signs were there to everyone else, but I didn’t believe it. This town’s a rumour mill and some of ‘em get generated out of thin air – just ‘cause people said it about you didn’t mean it was true.”

Waverly was speechless at this point but it didn’t matter because Champ was on a roll.

“You know I used to think you were so loyal? When guys hit on you in the bar it was like you looked right through them. God I was so stupid.”

“I broke up with you before Nicole and I got together,” she pointed out.

“Yeah but now I’m wondering if you saw her ‘cause you were looking through me as well.”

Before she could speak again Waverly heard the thump of a door and felt immediate relief as she saw Dolls coming towards them, two cardboard coffee cups dwarfed by his massive fists. He smiled easily at her as he approached the car and Waverly realised that she was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her fingers were numb.

“Everything alright here?” he asked.

“Yeah of course!” said Champ. “We were just catching up, weren’t we, Waves?”

Dolls’ face dropped into its usual passive expression and Champ took a small, casual step away from the door. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Waverly tried to meet Champ’s eyes, but he was gazing at the ground.

“Everything fine, Dolls, we were just talking.” She tried to sound bright but her voice seemed hollow, even to her own ears. “We should probably be getting back though.”

Dolls never took his gaze off Champ as he made his way around the vehicle and swung himself up into the passenger seat.

Champ tipped his hat and turned away without looking at her. “It was nice to see you again, Waves,” he murmured, before moving off down the street.

What had people been saying about her? Was her sexuality really obvious to them before it was to her? Waverly felt a warm hand placed on top of hers. Dolls gently pried her fingers off the steering wheel and squeezed them before depositing a few little white cubes into her palm.

“You didn’t reply to my text about the sugar so I figured I’d bring some, just in case.”

She gave him a small smile. “Sorry. I was distracted by Champ.”

Dolls looked at her carefully. “If I were you, Waverly, I would not waste a second more of your time being distracted by him.”

She knew that he was right; Champ had been out of line. But Waverly couldn’t help feeling the sour churning of guilt in her stomach. Champ had been a fixture in her life since they were 15 and even if he hadn’t always been the best boyfriend he had been one of the few people who had consistently showed up.

She started the engine and put the cruiser into gear. “Let’s head back to the office before our drinks get cold,” she murmured.

*********

That night Waverly couldn’t concentrate on her work. She had drunk some herbal tea and tried to listen to some relaxing music but tonight even that wasn’t enough to sooth her. She was supposed to be figuring out the identity of a revenant that could phase through walls and she’d manage to narrow the list down to 14 individuals who, at some point throughout their former lives, had been rumoured to teleport in some way.

She traced her finger down the list of tiny photographs, imaging that the tip of her finger was heating up and glowing red, and that with one flick she could blow them away. She shuffled the papers and instead drew out a list of contacts. She ran her fingertip over these too, but gently, as she was reading them by hand. In her other palm she cradled her cell phone, thumb pensively circling the dials.

“Hey, baby girl.” Wynonna stomped into the room and Waverly jumped, shoving the paper to the bottom of the stack.

“Wynonna! I’m glad you’re back, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Sure thing. God I have had such a day.”

“Yeah me too, there’s such a lot going on at the moment and I just-” Waverly began.

“I know right?” Wynonna opened the fridge and leaned in to pick out some leftover Chinese food. “Today a guy would only give us information on the condition that Dolls and I beat him at pool. He knew I could never resist that! He turned out to be some sort of elf-human hybrid and a mathematical genius and he beat us easily. Dolls had to threaten to stick the queue so far up his ass that he’d never be able to ‘pot the brown’ again to get him talking. It feels like everything always just has to be this whole thing, you know?”

“Yeah I know exactly what you mean. It’s a similar thing with me. I-”

“Wait, did you eat my spicy wings? Or was it Doc? I know that man likes ‘em spicy.”

“Wynonna, please, I’m trying to talk to you here!” And to her utter embarrassment, her voice cracked a little.

Wynonna whipped around, paying no mind as the little container in her hand slipped onto the floor and exploded in a sticky pile of sweet-and-sour tofu and rice. She strode straight over the mess and slung an arm about her sister’s shoulders. Waverly almost never cried. Not when the mercenaries besieged the homestead. Not when Bobo Del Rey whispered in her ear that she wasn’t an Earp at all. Not even when their Willa stole peacemaker and the true extent of her betrayal began to show.

“Waves, what’s happened? Today’s Tuesday, you should be thrilled. Did Dolls not like your playlist?”

Waverly rubbed her eyes roughly as she tried to compose herself. “No, he acted like he didn’t but we both know he secretly loved it. Nothing’s happened, I’m being stupid.”

Wynonna hooked a chair with her ankle and slid into it. She rubbed the younger girl’s back gently, feeling the muscles trembling under her palm. 

“Is this about Mictian?” she asked. “Because it’s over, Waverly, it can’t hurt you anymore. No more gaps in your memory and no more fighting. You’re you again. And I’m me.”

Waverly shook her head. “This isn’t about Mictian. It’s about me. I just feel strange and I felt this way before... before all of that. It’s embarrassing but I just feel like I don’t fit in this town anymore. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Can you try?”

Waverly sighed heavily before resolving to admit what had been circling through her mind ever since her conversation with Champ. “I’ve heard that there were rumours about me in town which I didn’t know about. Not nice ones.”

“No kidding? I heard that you’re related to that weird _Wynonna girl_ and her gang.” Wynonna whispered conspiratorially behind her palm. She grinned broadly but dropped it when Waverly didn’t even crack a smile.

“No. Rumours about…” she waved insinuatingly, “you know.”

“No,” said Wynonna. “I literally have no idea. Rumours that you’re the hottest girl in town? Cause they ain’t rumours, baby girl, they’s facts.”

Waverly shook her head and her shoulders sagged under Wynonna’s grip. They sat in silence for a while and eventually Wynonna’s eyes drifted to a sheet of paper peeking out from near the bottom of the larger stack. It was crisp and white and looked odd amongst the pile of old manuscripts. Waverly saw her curiosity and immediately moved to grab it, but the older Earp was too fast. Wynonna snatched up the sheet and squinted. “A list of local L-G-B-T groups?” she read, pronouncing the letters slowly. “What is this?”

“Nothing,” said Waverly quickly. “Nothing, it’s stupid, I just printed them on a whim today.”

Wynonna’s eyes glided down the sheet for a moment. “Waves, do you want to go to one of these?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I’ve been considering it for a while,” Waverly admitted.

“But why?” asked Wynonna, unable to keep the hurt from her voice. “You have us.”

“I know,” said Waverly. “And you know that I love you. But you guys aren’t... you’re... I want to meet more people like me. I think that I need to.”

“People like you?” Wynonna looked blank for a second before her eyes cleared and her mouth opened into an ‘o’. “Oh. That’s what this is about. Okay, well... what about Haught? And Jeremy?”

Waverly smiled and got that little faraway look in her eye that she always got when she thought about the Officer. “Nicole is great, like, really, she’s just the greatest. But she’s my girlfriend. I don’t want her to think that I’m struggling with this, or that I’m having second thoughts about us. And Jeremy is... Jeremy. I just want to meet some more likeminded people.”

Wynonna drew away from the younger girl and moved to grab a rag for the floor. “Well, honestly I don’t know why you think you’d have more in common with a bunch of people who define themselves by letters than you would with us but you’ve gotta do you I guess.”

Waverly stared at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Wynonna began scooping up sticky globs of rice. “You’re already in a gang of misfits, Waverly, and you’re the most normal of us all. You’re not one of those steaming turds brought back from hell. You’re not an immortal cowboy, or a man who turns into a lizard sometimes. You’re not a sexy cursed woman with an extremely cool gun. You’re an Earp but you’re still the town sweetheart. Who cares what else they’re saying? You’re still just the same person that you’ve always been, baby girl, so all this stuff? Don’t even worry about it.”

“ _Don’t worry about it?_ ” repeated Waverly, incredulously. “The people in this town don’t seem to have advanced beyond about 1957. Everyone keeps calling Nicole and I friends!”

“But you guys are friends, aren’t you?”

“Wynonna.” Waverly’s voice was quiet and low with suppressed emotion. “You know damn well we’re so much more than that. Why won’t you say it?”

“Because.” Her sister struggled for a moment. “Because I don’t know! I’m getting used to this as well!” Wynonna looked up suddenly, speaking quietly. “Oh. You’re asking if there were ever rumours about you being like… like liking girls?”

Waverly looked at the table and didn’t say anything.

“I mean… I never heard anything,” said Wynonna. “But who would say shit to me about you who didn’t want their teeth punched in?”

Waverly nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Look, why do you even care that the town was saying this stuff if it’s... well it’s turned out to be true, hasn’t it? You are… like that.”

“Gay.” She said. “The word you’re looking for is lesbian… A d-”

“Waverly!” Wynonna shouted, upset. “Do not use that word to describe yourself!” Her face darkened. “Has something else happened? Did someone say that word to you?”

“No, no! It’s not that people are saying overtly bad stuff it’s… it’s more the way they say things to me. And it’s just, I think that there were rumours about me being gay before I even knew I was.” She gave Wynonna the run-down of her meeting with Champ earlier. Her older sister’s face was thunderous through most of it but her lips twitched when she reached the heard the part about Dolls scaring him off.

“It’s like... I was Cheer Captain. I was Prom Queen and Champ was Prom King! We were the ‘it’ couple,” she said, doing air quotations. Wynonna widened her eyes at her and Waverly threw her hands up. “God, I know it’s shallow, of course I do, I can hear how shallow and stupid it is as I’m saying it! But I thought my whole life was mapped out for me! I thought that I was going to just live in this Podunk town and marry Champ and have some kids and end up running Shorty’s. Then I broke up with him and that fell apart and I thought I was figuring it all out but apparently I can’t even tell when another entity has invaded my body and I’m-” She bit her tongue to stop the thought from running out of her mouth. _I’m not even an Earp. ___

____

____

“Waverly, I feel like I’ve never refrained from saying this but just to reiterate: Champ is a total tool. A colossal tool. NASA can probably see his phallic nature from space. You’re better off without him. I thought you knew that?”

“I do.” Waverly said emphatically. “I really do. Being with Champ didn’t make me happy. But it was so _easy_ , you know? I knew what to expect. And other people knew what to expect as well. It was so certain, like there were grooves in the ground and I had slotted into mine and was gliding along. Now it’s like I’ve derailed and I love it and I feel so alive but...” She struggled for a moment. “But it’s like the town thinks that I’m freewheeling and they aren’t happy about it. Do you understand?” 

Wynonna raised an eyebrow. “Do I understand people staring and whispering and about you and making you feel unwelcome in the town you called your home? Yeah I might have an inkling.”

“That’s why I thought you of all people would understand!” Waverly snapped, tears making her voice uneven. “But sometimes you behave like you don’t get it either!”

She saw the hurt on Wynonna’s face as soon as she said it. She knew that it was cruel to compare her sister to the others, the people that had betrayed her all those years ago when she was only a child, driving her away for killing their father when it wasn’t her fault.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “That isn’t fair, you’re not like them at all. I’m not thinking straight.”

“No.” Wynonna’s voice was firm. “I’m the one who wasn’t thinking. And we both know that you’re biologically incapable of thinking straight.”

Waverly rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but laugh.

Wynonna took one of her sister’s hands in her own. “I’m sorry. I was an asshole to insinuate that you and Nicole are just friends. I know that you’re the kind of close friends who also have sex with each other.” She grinned. “And I’ll tell you who you are as well. You’re the nicest, smartest, most loving and thoughtful person in this god forsaken town and probably on this Earth. You’re a proud member of the L-G- ah, B – uh, what was it-?”

“L-G-B-T-Q-I-A plus.”

“Wow, God, no kidding? Okay well yeah, you’re a member of the ‘L-G-B-T-Q-I-A plus’ community!” She paused and gave the younger girl’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “And you’re my sister and an Earp before everything else. Always.”

Waverly smiled, but Wynonna felt a twinge of unhappiness in her gut when she saw that her sister’s eyes were still swimming with unshed tears. “Thanks, Wynonna.”

“And if this town doesn’t see what you’re worth then it’s their loss.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna / Nicole BROTP is everything.
> 
> TW: Mentions of homophobia and use of homophobic language.

*********

When the door to Shorty’s swung open, they framed the unusual image of Doc wearing yellow rubber gloves and jabbing at the light fixtures in the ceiling with a six-foot-long feather duster.

“Wow, masculinity levels really on the decline in here.”

Doc grunted. “A real man keeps his abode clean.” He balanced the pole on a gloved index finger like and wobbled around like a circus performer. It swung pendulously from side to side before falling slowly towards the doorway. Wynonna threw herself into a forward role with exaggerated effort as the pole clattered to the floor. She bowed and Doc leaned on the bar with a small smile. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure? Are my fine skills needed to put down another spawn from hell?”

“Not right now, no. Also, I think you’ll find that I’m the one who puts the spawn down.”

“Then you better have a good reason for interrupting me during my deep clean.”

“It’s Waverly. She’s upset.”

Doc frowned. He reached over the counter and pulled out a bottle and two tumblers, waggling them in the air suggestively. He was still wearing his marigolds. Wynonna threw herself onto a stool and put her head in her hands. She listened to the faint glug of the liquor being poured.

“Now what’s the matter with our girl?” asked Doc.

Wynonna mumbled through her fingers. “Her and Nicole are having some trouble with how the town is responding to their relationship. She said that she doesn’t feel like she knows who she is anymore.”

“Hmm… And what did you say to her?”

“I told her that she is an amazing person and that she should be proud to be L-G-B-T-Q-I-A.” 

“My God, what in the hell is that?” asked Doc in alarm.

“I’m not really sure!” said Wynonna, throwing her arms up. “Jeremy told me about it! I Googled it but I just got even more confused.”

Doc pushed his hair back out of his widened eyes. They sat in silence for a while, something that had always felt easy with each other.

“So the town is treating her poorly?” Doc sighed. “I thought people in this age were supposed to be able to open their minds a little more.”

“Yeah well I’d like to open some of them with a bullet. I just wish that she could ignore it.”

Wynonna looked at herself in the mirror opposite the bar. There were shadows under her eyes that she hated and that wouldn’t lift, no matter how many hours she slept. 

“What do you think I should say to her, Doc?”

Doc took a thoughtful sip of his drink. “Wynonna, I myself am of a different time when folks were even less understanding towards individuals like your sister. In some ways this town is a completely different place to how it was then, and in other respects it’s so familiar to me it’s like the entire place stayed frozen in time with me while I was in that God-forsaken well. I’m not surprised to hear that some people are unkind to them, even now. And I’m sure that for someone as bubbly and well-liked as Waverly it’s a weight she is not used to struggling under.”

“But I understand that feeling! I spent my whole life hated just because I’m an Earp!”

Doc nodded. “And Waverly has carried the burden of that name as well. And now the last part of her identity that was still rooted in any kind of normality has been disrupted.”

“She’s still normal!” Wynonna said, a dangerous edge creeping into her voice. “She’s exactly the same person that she’s always been.”

“And I agree,” said Doc hurriedly. “But Wynonna you must understand that some folks see her, ah, sexual orientation as a kind of filter which obscures every other aspect of her character. To them the love she feels is an imitation and utterly unequal to that between a man and a woman. You must appreciate how hard that will be for a soul so kind and empathetic as your sister and one so open and passionate as Nicole.”

Wynonna swirled the amber liquid in her glass round and round, looking unseeingly into the hypnotic centre.

“And what made you – in all your old-timey wisdom – understand that they were the real deal?” 

Silence again. After a while Wynonna thought that he wasn’t going to answer, so she slung her coat about her shoulders. As she stood to leave, her right hand fell unconsciously to the holster at her hip and brushed the handle of Peacemaker. The handle always held an unusual warmth that radiated comfortingly into her palm. Still there. Still here. 

When Doc spoke again his voice was gruff and low. He stared into the mirrored glass behind the bar as he spoke. “When Nicole looks at your sister, there is no mistaking the utter devotion in her eyes. It cannot be faked. Anyone who has felt it himself cannot deny that he recognises it. It’s just about the truest thing in this world.”

Wynonna turned her back to him and felt a familiar churning in her stomach. She took a last swig of the burning liquid in an attempt to scorch it away.

“I’m going to drop by the station and see Haught. I think I have an idea. Can I rent out the bar for an evening in a couple of days?”

“Oh geez let me check my calendar first. I might be hosting a wedding reception or something.”

Wynonna smiled slightly too brightly and slapped him on the shoulder as she left. “Thanks Doc. Oh, and stick the drinks on my tab!”

“You know damn well that we don’t do tabs here!” he shouted as the door swung shut.

****

*****

It was late afternoon by the time Wynonna arrived at the police station and she bumped into Nedley as he clocked off for the day. She curtsied at him and he tipped his hat, but the glance that he threw from under it had all the good will of a poison dart.

She paused in the little kitchenette to make a couple of strong coffees before planting herself in front of Nicole’s desk.

“Officer Haught.”

The red-head didn’t even look up. “Wynonna.”

“We need to talk.”

Nicole scribbled something out aggressively. “Can’t. I’m working.”

Wynonna sighed. “Look, I know that we haven’t had a chance to talk much since...”

“Since you called me ‘Queen Brisk of Bossy Town’?” Nicole thumped a stamp onto a form and shoved it into a tray.

“Yes.” Wynonna had actually forgotten about that. “And I haven’t really had a chance to talk to you about your relationship with my sister.”

“Apart from when you told me to, what was it? Up my Tinder game?”

“That was the demon talking!”

“Look Wynonna if you’ve come here to make nice about all that shit you said, can I take a rain check on it because I have a lot of paperwork to get through.”

Wynonna felt anger rise up like bile and couldn’t stop herself from spitting her reply. “You know what, Officer? We have big fish to fry out here. I only just managed to make my last surviving sister excrete a demon from her body – a demon who also was inside of me and made me drink a rat smoothie, by the way – and already Dolls is on my ass about the last 60-plus douchebags that need to go down the plug. And the worst part is I know that he’s right. Every single day that we are in this town and not focusing on the task at hand, Waverly is in danger. So yeah, I’m sorry that I don’t have time to be sorry for what I said to you in the barn.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, sagging a little. “But Waverly is upset about something and she’s clearly struggling with this, and I won’t have that, Nicole. So I need you to help me to help her.”

Nicole felt the anger that had begun burning in the pit of her stomach turn cold and solid. She put her pen down and finally looked the older Earp sister in the face. “She’s struggling? With what?”

“She isn’t happy... about being with you.”

“What?” Nicole gasped and Wynonna was instantly sorry for her choice of words.

“No! God, no, I’m sorry. She’s crazy about you. I meant more that I think she’s struggling with the, like, social consequences of your relationship in this shitty town,” she explained.

“Oh.”

Wynonna narrowed her eyes. “You already knew about this?”

“Of course. I get the feeling she’s felt this way for quite a while,” said Nicole.

Wynonna felt a stab of guilt. “What exactly did she say to you? Has she been afraid to say something to me?”

Nicole regarded her for a long moment before repeating the story back.

****

*****

It was 5pm on a Tuesday night so Waverly had gone to Nicole’s house for dinner. She loved the homestead but it was nice to have somewhere else to go and usually Waverly used this opportunity to cook something special up. But tonight they had gotten take-out and even though Nicole was disappointed, she didn’t feel it was remotely fair to express that. This was the first sign that something was amiss. The second was that instead of drinking coca and discussing their day together, Waverly had instead insisted that she needed to do more work. Demons don’t catch themselves, after all. Nicole was idly flicking through some case notes when she realised that Waverly hadn’t turned the pages of her book for at least ten minutes. She glanced over to her girlfriend, how was curled on the opposite end of the sofa and saw that her eyes were on the page but completely glazed.

Nicole turned the volume down on the TV that wasn’t even being watched. “Okay, what’s the matter?”

Waverly started as though she’d just woken from a dream. “Oh! Nothing?”

Nicole scooted across the sofa and took her girlfriend’s hand, running her thumb over her knuckles. “Waves you’ve barely said two words this evening and now you can’t even read your big boring books that you love so much.” 

That elicited a small smile but then Waverly took a deep breath, her shoulders slumping. “It’s just… I ran into Champ earlier outside Shorty’s.”

Nicole felt her blood begin to boil. She closed her folder and set it gently on the coffee table, because she really felt like throwing it across the room. “Oh. Not still foaming at the mouth, is he?”

Waverly shot a disapproving look. “He’s a nice guy. He means well.” 

“Sure. So why are we talking about him?”

Waverly sat quietly for a while and Nicole didn’t push her even though she was itching to. “I can’t stop thinking about what he said to us at the Poker Ball,” she admitted.

“That he was bitter and that you’re dating a cop now?” asked Nicole, either unable or unwilling to keep the note of smugness out of her voice.

“No, not that part.” Waverly played with her girlfriend’s fingers before entwining them. “He wasn’t very nice about our relationship, was he?”

“He said it was disgusting as I recall,” said Nicole, flatly. “You called him a ‘raging homophobe’.”

Waverly jolted at the word. “Oh well, that was in the heat of the moment. He was still beat up about the break up and he’d drunk all that weird champagne and probably he was just shocked to see us together. Champ isn’t really a homophobe, he loves lesbians.”

“Oh I’m sure he does.”

“Nicole.” Waverly glared up at her girlfriend with her sternest, steely-eyed look. Even if it turned out that she and Wynonna weren’t blood relations, Nicole always thought that that expression was 100% Earp. She shrugged apologetically and opened her arms, inviting the shorter girl onto her lap. Waverly pressed her head under her girlfriend’s chin gratefully.

“What did he say to you then, outside Shorty’s?” asked Nicole.

“That’s the thing. He didn’t really say much of anything. But... at the same time...” Waverly struggled for a moment, trying to form the murky ideas swimming in her head into something coherent. “It’s hard to describe. It’s like, no one’s being mean to me, you know? Everything seems fine, but it isn’t. It’s not...”

“It’s not honest.” Nicole finished. “I know exactly what you mean.”

Waverly smiled. She breathed an idea into the world and Nicole captured it instantly. “They just say things to me that aren’t quite rude… but aren’t quite polite?”

“Like calling us ‘friends’ to our faces?”

“Well, you are my best friend,” said Waverly.

“Waves, you know what they mean!” said Nicole hotly. “It’s just ridiculous.”

“No, I know. It’s just so much subtler than I thought it would be. I get side eyes and hushed whispers that stop when I walk by.” Waverly’s spoke quietly, not quite meeting her girlfriend’s eyes. “And the laughing. I wasn’t expecting that people would laugh.”

Nicole’s mind immediately catapulted back to last week. She and Waves had met for lunch at the diner on the edge of town that Nicole had always just written off as a dump, but Waverly was excited to bring her girlfriend there because it was like introducing her to one of her oldest friends in Purgatory. It was where she always used to go to sit and sip milkshakes with a library book when she couldn’t stand the atmosphere at home. They huddled together in the threshold, under the soft blinking red light of the door sign and their lips brushed in the cold… when Nicole heard it. At first it was just a hushed giggle, but she quickly realised there were 4 or 5 high schoolers peering at them from a nearby table and laughing openly. One of the girls was motioning tipping a cowboy hat and straightening her collar, putting the boy next to her into fits of mirth. Despite her advanced age and the amount of time she’d been out of the closet, Nicole was frustrated to feel a twinge of adolescent embarrassment. She had always enjoyed dressing a bit more masculinity, and the uniform of the Purgatory PD allowed her to do that. But now she was cast back to high school and her friends’ giggles when she had expressed that she might want to wear a suit when she got married. She and Shae had married in a haze of booze and fancy dress, so it hadn’t really applied then, but with Waverly it did matter. She’d been so hesitant to tell her about how she really saw herself walking down the aisle. But if anything, when the words were pried from her lips, Waverly seemed completely thrilled with the idea. She insisted that she loved the khakis and the thick blue button-down shirt of Nicole’s work uniform – more than that, she thought they were sexy – and Nicole believed her. One stern look from Nicole, her sheriff’s badge flashing on her chest, had shut the kids up immediately, but when she and Waverly sat down to eat her girlfriend’s smile seemed tight around the eyes.

Nicole squeezed her Waverly’s shoulders, indicated that she understood exactly what she was thinking. “I’m just so tired of it all. Between the demons and the revenants and now Willa, it’s too much.” Waverly’s voice started to raise. “I just don’t have the space in my head to deal with this on top of all that! This… this ridiculous, out-dated, mean-spirited-”

“Small town homophobic bullshit?” offered Nicole with a smile.

“Yes.” Waverly sat back, pleased that Nicole had finally said what she’d been skirting. She toyed with the small hairs at the back of her girlfriend’s neck. Initially she had missed the stern, professional braid that the Officer used to wear, but this new look really did suit her. 

“You know the worst part of this is, though?” she said eventually.

“Hmm?”

“I don’t think my sister gets it.”

Nicole was genuinely surprised by this. “Wynonna? Purgatory’s very own Woman of the World who has travelled further than all of us combined?”

Waverly nodded sadly. “She hasn’t spoken to me about this stuff, even once.”

“Have you tried to talk to her about it?”

No, she hadn’t. Every time she tried to there seemed to be a compelling reason not to. “No. Honestly, I think I’m afraid to,” Waverly answered.

Nicole pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Wynonna is good at a lot of things, but I think that her job takes up a lot of her processing capacity. I mean, she didn’t even notice the signs when we got together and she practically caught us kissing in Nedley’s office! She probably hasn’t had time to consider what we might be dealing with. I’m sure that she’d be horrified that you’re scared to come to her about anything.”

Waverly knew that Nicole was right. Wynonna was so fiercely protective of her younger sister that when she thought she was in danger she fought more like a bear than a woman.

They sat in comfortable silence, until Waverly sensed that there was more to say.

“What is it?”

Nicole hesitated, trying to find the best way to say what was on her mind, her finger lightly drawing little shapes across Waverly’s back. “It’s possible that Wynonna might be taking her cues from you on this one. She does physical confrontation well enough but she’s hardly one for confronting an issue if she can avoid it. If she senses you’re uncomfortable with the subject, she’s probably not going to bring it up.”

“I’m not uncomfortable talking about us,” said Waverly, instantly defensive. “Why would you think that?”

“Not talking about us, talking about you.” Nicole spoke very gently. “Waves, I’ve never once heard you say out loud that you’re gay.”

She felt the shift in her girlfriend immediately, the muscles tightening beneath her fingers. “What, is sleeping with you not making it obvious enough for you?” The words might have been funny but Waverly said them with a cruel edge that she knew Nicole wasn’t used to hearing from her. She felt her girlfriend’s hand still against her back. Nicole was notorious for her expressive face but when Waverly looked into it now she saw that it was assembled into a deliberately neutral expression. They sat in silence for a while, the television buzzing inanely with some sort of generic cop show. If she’d been paying attention she’d have changed channel by now. Waverly used to love procedurals but since dating Nicole she avoided them because she knew that it made her girlfriend feel like she was still at work.

Waverly pressed a kiss to her girlfriend’s neck and breathed her next words softly. “I’m gay.” She let them hang in the air for a moment, marvelling at how it felt to release them into the world for the first time and she felt Nicole squeeze her so gently that her next words were broken up with tears. “And I love you, more than anything, Nicole. And I love us. But for some reason, I don’t know why, there’s a part of me that just isn’t okay with me. God, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

When Nicole replied, her voice was firm. “There’s nothing wrong with you. I know exactly what you’re going through, Waverly. Don’t forget I’ve been exactly where you are now.”

Waverly relaxed and let her tears flow freely now, marvelling that she ever worried about talking to her girlfriend about this for even one second. Nicole was the most unflappable person that she’d ever met and sometimes it felt like there wasn’t a question or topic that could leave her lips that would make Nicole bat an eyelid. In the barn when Mitcian had made her lie that Wynonna was possessed and out to kill them, Nicole had simply set her mouth, drawn her gun and told Waverly to stay behind her. If the Earp lifestyle was a fast-flowing river, Officer Haught was the boulder that you grab to stop yourself from being swept away by the current.

“What do I do, Nicole?” The Officer had always seemed so assured in herself, so confident in her sexuality, ever since that day when she strode into Shorty’s and asked for Waverly’s number. It was one of the most attractive things about her.

Nicole considered the question for a long time and Waverly didn’t rush her. “Well, what helped me when I came out was meeting other queer people.”

“There are no other queer people in Purgatory,” said Waverly immediately.

Nicole laughed. “That seems statistically very unlikely.”

“Well, I’ve lived here my whole life and I haven’t met any, so let’s say for the sake of argument that there aren’t any,” said Waverly.

“Well, seeing as this town is a wasteland of heterosexuality, we’ll have to transplant some queers here.” 

Waverly laughed this time and Nicole was grateful to hear the sound. “I have some friends from College and a couple from the Academy who I’ve been dying to meet you. They’re in the club. If you want I can show you some organisations as well. They would be good if you wanted to strike out on your own a bit? I’ve thought about suggesting it before but I didn’t want to push you if you weren’t ready.”

Waverly’s lips tipped up into a little smile. “You’re so sweet. Thank you, Nicole.”

“In the meantime, I think you should talk to Wynonna. She’s your sister, Waves, she wouldn’t like to think you’re having a hard time.”

****

*****

After Nicole finished her story, Wynonna gave a brief rundown of her subsequent encounter with Waverly as well. She squinted at the Officer, considering how their stories fit together. “Hmm,” she mused. “That explains a lot.”

“Yeah,” said Nicole. “To be honest I was just trying to encourage her to get in touch with the word gay and now it’s like she’s come to you all guns blazing. I didn’t think she’d start throwing around her dyke identity like that.”

Wynonna jumped at the word. “Haught!” She shouted. “Don’t say that! Especially about my sister!”

The officer smiled broadly and leaned back in her chair. “It’s okay for us to say it, Wynonna, it’s kind of different.” Her smile slipped a little. “Although, it’s nothing she won’t have heard before.”

“It’s that bad here, huh?”

Nicole met Wynonna’s eye and the two shared an unhappy look. She realised how tired the older Earp sister looked. Her eyes had dark bruises underneath them and the corners of her mouth held unhappy creases. She had stood firmly throughout Nicole’s story but the Officer could sense the weariness in her limbs and when Nicole gestured to the chair opposite, the heir half sat and half fell into it. Nicole pushed the papers into a rough pile, shoving them unceremoniously into a random tray. She accepted one of the steaming mugs. “What do you need?”

“Explain to me. Make me understand. What’s it like to be gay?”

Nicole let out a little laugh and blew on her drink. “How long have you got?”

“As long as it takes.” 

“Well it uh... it’s kind of like...” she worried her lip. How was she supposed to even begin to answer this question? “What exactly did Waves describe it like?”

“She said it was like she was on a track and derailed? Something like that? There was definitely some kind of fucked up train imagery going on.” 

Nicole smiled; it was probably more poetic when the younger Earp sister explained it. “I know what she means. You grow up with a very specific idea of what path your life is going to be because it’s what’s been written out for you in all the stories: husband, house, kid, dog, picket fence. Then you realise that that isn’t the life that you can lead because you don’t connect with it.”

“You can still have all of those things,” Wynonna pointed out. “Dogs don’t care if you’re lesbian or not. I assume they don’t anyway?”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Yes, but you understand what I’m saying here? Think about all of the television shows that you know, the films you’ve seen, the books you’ve read. Think about how many straight relationships you’ve seen. Those stories are like a cultural map of how everyone’s life is expected to go. Now think about how it must feel to grow up and realise you don’t follow the rules.”

Wynonna held her drink to her chin for a while, considering the Officer’s words. “Yeah. Yeah, of course. I can see that that would suck. I guess I’ve never thought about it before.”

“Because you’ve never had to. Then imagine you live in a town where people aren’t used to it. You’re like the attraction at a freak show.”

“God this is much more educational than my conversation with Jeremy.”

“Why, what did he say?” asked Nicole, genuinely curious. She and Jeremy hadn’t spoken very much about this sort of thing and she’d been meaning to correct that. As far as she knew he was only other openly gay person in a 100 mile radius who had experience of life both inside and outside of the Purgatory bubble.

“He just made me more confused. He told me to Wikipedia the LGB24Z thing and I did try that but there was so much to take in and I just didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere. He also blew my mind wide open about some other stuff as well – what’s this ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ business all about, Haught?” she grinned.

Nicole scowled and reddened, making Wynonna’s grin even broader. “Look, Wynonna, your job is not to know the jargon and the lingo and the ins-and-outs of gay culture. Your job is to make your sister feel like she has your respect and your support.”

“And she really feels that she doesn’t have those things right now?” Wynonna murmured. 

Nicole looked at her for a long moment before replying. “I don’t think she knows what to think.”

Nicole’s honesty was refreshing and this was exactly why Wynonna had come to see her.

Wynonna made a face. “Is there anything good about it? This gay business?”

“Yes of course!” said Nicole emphatically. She was much more animated now, leaning forward onto the desk. “You’re finally free to be who you are and just enjoy your love with your partner and there’s this sense that you’re a member of this vibrant new community that will support you and-”

“Except that community doesn’t have a presence in this Podunk town.” Wynonna said, a new and uncomfortable realisation dawning on her. “That’s why Waverly was thinking about calling one of those groups.”

“Yeah, exactly,” said Nicole. “But I’m willing to drive her as far as I have to in order to meet other people. I was even thinking we could take Doc’s hot pink car for a spin in the pride parade the next town over.”

They both smirked at that.

“But what’s to stop her finding her community here?” asked Wynonna. “Why can’t we make that happen?”

Nicole considered for a moment. “I… never really thought about it, I guess. Huh.”

“You said it yourself, Nicole, the idea that there’s no gays in Purgatory seems very unlikely. Let’s bring them out to play.”

Nicole sat back in her chair. “There’s just so much going on, it never even occurred to me to try to organise something like that.”

Wynonna shook her head. “And you’re supposed to be a pillar of our community. I think you just like the attention of being the only gay in the village, Haught.”

Nicole snorted and sipped at her coffee. “Obviously that’s it.”

“So, will you help me?”

The two women looked at each other over their drinks, ideas forming between them, and Nicole nodded.


End file.
